Hausdorff compactifications in ZF (Q1738929)

The authors present some results on compactifications of Tychonoff spaces in the axiomatic system \textbf{ZF}, i.e., they work in \textbf{ZFC} without assuming that the Axiom of Choice holds. The authors call an infinite set $X$ \textit{amorphous} if $X\setminus A$ is finite for any infinite set $A\subset X$. Amorphous sets exist in some models of \textbf{ZF}. Analogously, a topological space $(X, \tau)$ is amorphous if so is the set $X$. Two compactifications $\alpha X$ and $\gamma X$ of a Tychonoff space $X$ are called \textit{equivalent} if there exists a homeomorphism $\varphi:\alpha X \to \gamma X$ such that $\varphi(x)=x$ for any $x\in X$. Given a compactification $\alpha X$ of a Tychonoff space $X$, the expression $C_\alpha(X)$ stands for the algebra of all real-valued continuous functions on $X$ that are continuously extendable over $\alpha X$. One of the main results of the paper states that, in a model of \textbf{ZF}, a discrete space $X$ can have non-equivalent Hausdorff compactifications $\alpha X$ and $\gamma X$ such that $C_\alpha(X)=C_\gamma(X)$. It is also established that, in all models of \textbf{ZF}, an infinite discrete space $X$ is amorphous if and only if every Hausdorff compactification of $X$ is equivalent to its Alexandroff compactification.